Walking the line between creating and producing as a creative soul can be challenging for entrepreneurs. Turning a creative talent into a rewarding, successful business can be the ultimate dream, as you step into the flow and share a piece of yourself with the world. It also means balancing all the requirements and demands of running a business while continuing to feed your passion.
The critical transition of transforming a creative gift or talent into a business brings you to an interesting new point in your creative evolution; learning how to walk the line between creating something you love and producing something for clients who will buy it.
Many folks can get hung up here along their entrepreneurial journey. It’s easy to sense how the intuitive creative flow may feel different once there’s a clear desire for your ideas, products and talent. How you connect with creative insights might also feel different as you get busier and have more mental activities that compete for attention with your creative insights.
When you feel a little out of sorts or overwhelmed by administrative business duties and commitments it’s time to do a gut check. It will help you see what needs to shift so your intuition and creative force can work in tandem more effectively, and allows you to find ways to feel better about what you are creating in all aspects of your business. No one likes to feel like a human production line!
Some suggestions to help balance your intuitive/creative connection with producing once momentum picks up for your business:
- Set up a time for creative work vs mental work, and stick to a regular schedule. For example, I do my calls and emails in the morning and write in the afternoon or evening — my peak times for creative insight. Experiment with a schedule until you find something that feels right and you can duplicate consistently with positive results.
- Be honest with yourself about what you need to do vs. want to do, and don’t feel guilty about it. Just admitting it to yourself can feel like a weight has been lifted.
- Outsource the type of work that drains you and hand it over to someone you trust to manage it so you are free to create without worry- otherwise it won’t be a benefit in the long run. It’s not always easy to do when it comes to budget constraints or control issues (yes, every entrepreneur has some), but work towards being able to get help if you feel it will free up a lot of your stress.
- Don’t work constantly, even if it feels like you can. Your passion and drive can max out your physical energy reserves as you push your body, and your desire doesn’t always resonate with what your body can actually endure. If you push yourself too hard, you just end up overtired and judgy about what you are not getting done well.
- Create and honor a regular time to recharge your own creative batteries to keep ideas flowing. So what if you take off on a Tuesday for some fun and work on a Saturday instead? It’s important to treat your intuitive creative force with love and nourishing care and honor your gut when it’s time to recharge.
- Develop simple systems around regular tasks that are easy to execute (social media, client management and correspondence, billing, new customer outreach). Take your time as you try things out, then make changes to the process as you go. You won’t know how effective a system can be until you implement it!
Success Changes How You Play With Creativity, and that’s a Good Thing
Giving yourself the freedom to create just for the sake of it without having to turn it into something profitable is one of the most important things creatives and entrepreneurs need do for themselves. Creating within a business for clients and customers instead of just for joy is very rewarding, but in a different way. It puts expectations and pressure on what you create and can sometimes turn into a creative block if you focus mostly on meeting expectations instead of letting intuition guide your muse.
As you attract more clients, be open to changes in how your creative hits show up — and how you listen to them. Maybe you notice more inspirations come in during collaborative work or when you are in the middle of a project for a client. Perhaps you need to take more frequent breaks to allow creativity a chance to come in while the mind is at rest, or find a simple way to take your mind off the mental side of business to reconnect with all of your senses. Creating requires connecting with all your senses in varying degrees.
Maybe a daily walk (my favorite), exercise or a field trip to work in a different location a few times a week is enough to keep things fresh. You are changing and growing along with your business (it’s a part of you), so open up to changing your creative processes, too.
Being successful in business requires staying true to the creative spirit that inspired you in the first place and honoring when it’s time to switch things up. Give your intuition time to adjust to a new creative approach so you can re-balance your amazing creative insight in a way that makes sense for who you are now and can help you continue creating in a way that’s fulfilling for your mind, body and spirit.
Photo credit: Georgie Pauwels, followtheseinstructions, Nick Webb